Posted on 01/11/2010 7:00:37 PM PST by smokingfrog
Teenagers have been warned they are becoming unemployable because they use a vocabulary of just 800 words.
The limited linguistic range also consists of many made up words and 'teenspeak' which has developed through modern communication methods such as text messaging and social networking sites.
Today Jean Gross, who advises the Government on children's speech, said urgent action was required to prevent children failing to find jobs because they are unable to communicate.
Mrs Goss, who last week issued a stark warning over the effect of television on children's development said yesterday: 'Teenagers are spending more time communicating through electronic media and text messaging, which is short and brief.
'We need to help today's teenagers understand the difference between their textspeak and the formal language they need to succeed in life — 800 words will not get you a job.'
The majority of teenagers should have developed a broad vocabulary of 40,000 words by the time they reach 16.
Linguists have found, however, that although they may understand thousands of words, many choose to limit themselves to a much smaller range in regular conversation and on a daily basis could use as few as 800 terms.
Mrs Gross said her concerns were increased by research by Tony McEnery, a professor of linguistics at Lancaster University who analysed 10 million words of transcribed speech and 100,000 words gathered from teenagers' blogs.
He found that the top 20 words used by teenagers, including 'yeah', 'no' and 'but', account for about a third of all words used.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
>Don’t forget “let me be clear” and “make no mistake”.
LOL! That is true..
at the end of the day
"As I've said before..."
Funny, the words “I’m sorry”, “I was wrong” and “Thank you” don’t seem to be in that 800 word list.
I don’t get this study. Of course, teens are going to use their dumbed down vocabulary while communication with one another on blogs, etc. I was always an articulate kid, but I am sure that I used a lot of whatever words we kids were fond of when I was in high school, and I probably sounded like a dope most of the time.
So, what’s your point? /sarcasm LOL
Like, gag me with a spoon. You know.
Unaware of what year it was, Joe wandered the streets desperate for help. But the English language had deteriorated into a hybrid of hillbilly, valleygirl, inner-city slang and various grunts. Joe was able to understand them, but when he spoke in an ordinary voice he sounded pompous and faggy to them.
And also...
And there was a time in this country, a long time ago, when reading wasn't just for fags and neither was writing. People wrote books and movies, movies that had stories so you cared whose ass it was and why it was farting, and I believe that time can come again!
F%%k, well f^^K you buddy. Take a f&&king leap of the f((king cliff, you f##ker. F@@k!
Something like that.
Right, kick ass. Well, don’t want to sound like a dick or nothin’, but, ah... it says on your chart that you’re f——d up. Ah, you talk like a fag, and your s—t’s all retarded. What I’d do, is just like... like... you know, like, you know what I mean, like...
DUDE!
But it’s got alectra lites...
So, yeah.
Duuuuude.
Wait! I can count to a thousand. So I know, like, a thousand words....
It’s what plants crave.
It’s like, you know. And it’s, “Yeah.”
Brawndo the thirst mutilator
Like, fersure! But that hole scene is like so toe-tally five minutes ago!
(So like this Caesar Dude comes to the Valley and he’s like going “Veni, Vidi, Vickie” - so I like said ‘Talk American you freak!’ and he’s like “I came, I saw, I’m like Omigawd!”)
I mean like I know WAAAY more than like 50 words! I mean like 70 or 80 at least!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.